Dha Werda Verda: RC1203
by TWong
Summary: Inside the mind of a Republic Commando, from the perspective of RC1203, Oath, of Cryo Squad.


He didn't know how Jango got his hands on them, but damned if they weren't authentic.

What Sergeant Bralor had said was a "Spider droid" wasn't terribly large by any standards, but it packed an armor-grade laser cannon and a bunch of rockets. Fortunately, it was slow. Unfortunately, it still put up a good fight. Thanks to the intel provided by Jango Fett, Cryo Squad had the know-how to take it down. That was the hard part.

He pressed his silver-armored back to the durasteel plate and slammed another anti-armor charge home. He waited for the beep to confirm it was ready to fire, then leaned around his cover. The droid fired at Icer's position, immediately superheating the durasteel. The com channel was awash with calm orders and status reports, and the droid was bathed in the blue hue of constant streams of blaster bolts.

He pulled the trigger, and the DC-17s bucked. The anti-armor round fell slightly short and blasted armor off the droid's leg. He ducked back around as a few rockets went his way.

A second _thoomp!_ came about ninety degrees from his position; Deuce had broken out his anti-armor attachment as well. The squad's second-in-command yelled something about a breach.

He loaded up his last anti-armor round and risked a peek around the edge. Sure enough, a nice little crack had appeared in the droid's shell. He brought the weapon up and launched the last round, then quickly reconfigured it back into rifle mode. He reached behind him and, by feel, extracted a breaching charge. Without a second thought, he broke cover and charged at the droid, which was conveniently facing directly away from him.

He covered the ten meters far faster than he thought he would and managed to hop up on one of the droid's legs. Reprimands flooded the com, but he didn't care. He slapped the charge over the rent in the armor and activated it; thumb on the center to kill the safety, fingers on the other two to activate. He leapt the meter back to the floor and ran pell-mell for the nearest solid object and dove behind it.

As the droid slowly turned to face him, the breaching charge detonated. The droid lurched and spent a second orienting itself. It fired once more, obliterating the upper three meters of the duracrete wall behind which he and Zero hid. Zero shot him a glance through his t-visor, then formed his hand into a light fist, thumbing an imaginary switch. He nodded comprehension and set to work.

As Zero laid down suppressing fire – what suppressing a blaster rifle could do against such a droid – he removed from his pack a massive det charge, wide across as his chest and deeper than his fist. He began typing in various sequences, adjusting the explosive strength for the type of armor and setting it to detonate remotely. As he tapped away, Icer announced he was out of clips and grenades.

He could have done it in his sleep. He banged the confirm button and peeked once again. He was looking right at a bolt from the droid's laser cannon.

He allowed himself to drop to the floor, and the bolt washed past overhead. He felt the intense heat through the temperature-regulated armor system, and was pretty sure his skin had burned beneath the environment suit. It didn't matter. Unless he stopped it now, he was going to lose another squad to a training exercise.

He rolled from his cover and dashed straight at the droid. Two of its rockets passed mere meters over his head. He tore the backing from the epoxy adhesive strip across the back of the charge and jumped. The adhesive wasn't necessary; he jammed the entire package straight into the hole the breacher had made.

He hit the floor rolling, but stopped much sooner than he'd liked to. He had rolled up against a cargo crate. _Fierfek_, Zero wasn't going to detonate until he was clear. Twenty swore as the droid fired at his position, and Deuce announced he was dry. He screamed at Zero to press the _di'kutla_ button as he scrambled on his knees to get behind the crate.

He'd almost made it when the charge went off. He wished he could have seen it; the next the he knew was lying on his back two meters from where he was before, watching droid shrapnel clatter down around him. Fortunately, the armor and suit prevented any of it from getting through.

He lay there, exhausted, as the sergeant announced _endex_.


End file.
